Why is it in news?

India has recently joined the Ashgabat agreement.

Details

• The Ashgabat agreement envisages setting up of an international transport and transit corridor linking central Asia with the Persian Gulf to significantly ramp up trade and investment.
• Turkmenistan, as Depository State of Ashgabat Agreement, informed India that all the four founding members have consented to the accession of India to the agreement.
• Besides Turkmenistan, the other founding members of the agreement are Iran, Oman and Uzbekistan and these countries had signed the pact on April 25, 2011
• Accession to the Agreement would diversify India’s connectivity options with central Asia and have a positive influence on India’s trade and commercial ties with the region
• Indian government on March 23, 2016 has requested approval for acceding to the agreement. India’s intention to accede to the Ashgabat Agreement would now be conveyed to the Depository State (Turkmenistan). India got the consent of the founding members of the agreement [Turkmenistan, Oman, Uzbekistan and Iran] and got the formal entry to the Ashgabat agreement. 

About the Ashgabat Agreement 

• The Ashgabat agreement is a Multimodal transport agreement between Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and India for creating an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
• The objective of this agreement is to enhance connectivity within Eurasian region and synchronize it with other transport corridors within that region including the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
• The Ashgabat agreement will also synchronize with the International North–South Transport Corridor encompassing ship, rail including Trans-Caspian railway, and road route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia. The route primarily involves moving freight from India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia via ship, rail and road. This will enhance connectivity.
• This agreement will also leverage the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) rail line from 2013, Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey transportation corridor in 2014, Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railroad and TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) comprising the EU and 14 Eastern European, South Caucasus and Central Asian states.
• India is finalising a plan to construct a 900-km railway line that will connect Chabahar port in Iran, being built with Indian help, to the mineral-rich Hajigak region of Afghanistan, which will also be a part of the agreement.

Source

Indian Express